


Lie To Me Drabbles

by dreamsofspike



Category: Lie to Me (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-22 22:46:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9628601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsofspike/pseuds/dreamsofspike
Summary: A collection of my drabbles for various pairings from Lie to Me.Warnings: reference to past cheating and abuse





	1. Trust

It's easier to trust a man with such a refreshing policy of complete honesty.  
  
Easier -- but still not easy.  
  
Memories of another who lied to her, who broke her heart with deception and abuse, fill her mind, quietly warning her every time she almost lets him get too close.  
  
If she wasn't so skilled at recognizing the natural signs of deceit, regardless of his apparent honesty, it would be impossible to trust him at all.  
  
She can't make herself forget that he's worked here long enough to pick up a few tricks of deception, she's sure... if he wanted to use them against her.  
  
With every day she knows him, every moment she spends getting to know him better... she desperately hopes that the fragile trust she's beginning to place is well-founded... and that one day, she might be able to give him the part that she's still holding back.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone else has gone home hours ago.  
  
He stayed on the pretense of studying the pictures and video feeds for any slight sign of something he might have missed -- but he's long since stopped thinking about these particular suicide cases.  
  
He sits with his back to the door, staring at the old familiar video -- lost in the past.  
  
He starts when he feels a soft hand come to rest on his shoulder, jerking away and spinning around to face the momentary perceived threat -- too quickly to conceal the expressions he once trained her to notice.  
  
Confronted by his red-rimmed eyes, the exhausted lines that crease his face, the dried salt tracks on his cheeks, her expression visibly softens as he watches -- and he finds it infuriating.  
  
Without a word he turns away from her again, shrugging his shoulder with a little grimace of distaste, as if to rid himself of the sense memory of her sympathetic touch.  
  
"You don't have to do this."  
  
"I know."  
  
Insistent, she turns the chair back toward her, and he reluctantly allows it, though he won't quite meet her eyes.  
  
"Something to hide?" she challenges gently, well aware that it may be the only way to get him to look at her.  
  
She's right.  
  
He looks up, a frigid expression of careful neutrality on his face.  
  
She sees right through it.  
  
He taught her well.  
  
"It wasn't your fault."  
  
He's quiet for a long moment, his expression never shifting from its desperate stillness, before he finally replies with chilling softness.  
  
"Yes. It was."  
  
She's stunned to silence, recognizing that he means those words in a much different way than she would have expected. There's something more to the story than a young man who failed to see the suicidal signs presented by his mother. There's some other reason he's blaming himself.  
  
Before she can recover enough to ask, he's risen from his chair, turned off the tape, and silently stalked away from her and the skillful scrutiny of her eyes.


	3. The Worst Policy

"What are you hiding?"  
  
"W-what? What are you talking about? Hiding...?"  
  
"The way you keep looking at me when you think I'm not looking... the way you pay more attention than anyone else to every little nuance... the way you're... blushing and avoiding eye contact right now..."  
  
"Really, I d-don't have any idea what you're talking about..."  
  
"You're not a very good liar, Eli."  
  
"I'm not a liar at all, remember? I _never_ lie..."  
  
"Yeah... and that's what makes it so easy to tell when you do."  
  
"... Huh?"  
  
"You know, someone who lies consistently and frequently over a long period of time can develop the kind of skill that prevents their lies from being detected -- even by a professional like you or me. Someone who almost never lies, on the other hand... can't seem to hide a thing from anyone..."  
  
"..."  
  
"Well... what do you think that means?"  
  
"I think it means that sometimes honesty is a really freakin' _bad_ policy!"


	4. His Secret

"You're not as good a liar as you think you are."  
  
He freezes at the sound of her voice, but doesn't turn around. As she slowly moves further into the room, she can see the taut, forced smile on his lips. He doesn't look at her as he points out the obvious.  
  
"I'm in the business of _catching_ lies, not projecting them."  
  
"Yeah. And you trained me a little too well."  
  
He closes his eyes for a moment, drawing in a deep breath as she moves too close, crouching in front of him. He can feel her intent gaze, too close to his face, studying too intently.  
  
It's all just too much.  
  
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" he demands in a tight, barely restrained tone of anger.  
  
"This."  
  
She leans in before he can stop her, swallowing the breath he's drawn to argue in a deep, intense kiss. For a moment he's still with shock, eyes wide, neither rejecting nor responding to the unexpected gesture.  
  
She's just about to stop when he suddenly puts his arms around her, pulling her closer to him and returning the kiss.  
  
She's right. He's not as good a liar as he thought he was.  
  
Or maybe she's just gotten good at reading him.  
  
Either way -- his secret's out now.


	5. Mind Reader

He finds her crying in her office -- though she's trying to look like she's not.  
  
He knows what this is about.  
  
He goes to her, places a gentle hand on her shoulder from behind her. She knows he's there, but doesn't react to his touch -- but at least she doesn't reject it. He hesitates before opening his mouth to speak the words that spring to his mind unbidden. He knows better than to intrude where he doesn't belong -- but he somehow can't help it.  
  
"It's not your fault," he says softly, gently squeezing her shoulder. "You're not responsible for his decisions."  
  
She goes still for a moment, then shakes her head, her shoulders trembling as she allows her sobs to overtake her for a few brief moments. When she has control enough to speak, her words carry a note of resentment, but it's tinged with affection.  
  
"What are you, a mind reader? You shouldn't... know... the things you know."  
  
"It's my biggest flaw."   
  
He cringes inwardly, waiting for her rejection. His biggest flaw has been the death of every relationship he's ever had. She reaches her hand up to rest over his on her shoulder, a tearful smile on her face -- and something within him quakes with relief even before she speaks.  
  
"You promise?"


	6. Even Ground

She's not sure what she expected in the wake of Zoe's visit -- but it certainly wasn't this.  
  
She stops in the doorway to his office. The door is almost closed, but not quite, and she can just barely see him through the tiny gap.  
  
Immediately, she feels like she's intruding on something he'd never want her to see.   
  
His back is turned to her, his face resting in one hand -- and his shoulders are silently shaking. It looks as if he's in tears. She thinks back to the explosion in the hallway, the way his voice trembled when he yelled at Zoe, demanding explanation for her abandonment.  
  
Now, _that_... she can relate to.  
  
She knows what it's like to be reduced to tears by the one you love.  
  
She knows what it's like to feel betrayed.  
  
She knows what it's like to desperately wonder what it was that you did wrong.  
  
She makes a decision and steps through the doorway, closing the door firmly behind her. She'll reach out to him, try to help, because this time, she thinks she actually can.  
  
This time, they're on even ground.


	7. Damaged

He holds himself at a distance.  
  
She knows it -- everyone he works with knows it. It's like there's this impenetrable wall surrounding him, that no one can get through.  
  
It's like he doesn't want to be loved.  
  
He's spent years perfecting his talents, honing his skills, until now, there's nothing that gets by him -- no secret anyone can keep from him. He can't be surprised, caught off guard, lied to by a lover. He's perfected his own protection.  
  
But in so doing -- he's created irreparable damage to himself.  
  
His knowledge torments him, and deep down he knows that he can never be with someone again without that relationship being tainted by it.  
  
She looks into those deep, fathomless blue eyes -- and thinks that maybe it's worth taking the chance.


End file.
